Myriad Makers: Kate Ferry’s voodoo dolls give only good juju
Published 7:00 am Sunday, April 18, 2021
- A variety of dolls, captured at the artist's home
“First and foremost, you need to know: these do NOT work.” With these words, artist and maker Kate Ferry introduces her latest artistic venture: Voodoo Dolls. “They started as part of the Krewe de Canailles, in 2019. The theme was Louisiana Folklore, and I asked if anyone had Voodoo Dolls. They told me it was mine, and I started work on my first batch.”
The Krewe de Canailles has been described as a walking parade with no barriers, composed of individual krewes. Any group of people can pull together to create a krewe. The only rules are: floats have to be human-powered and throws handmade and eco-friendly. No plastic beads. No barricades.
“I rounded up a motley group of friends (we wound up being a group of about ten,) and we all dressed as voodoo dolls and carried giant ‘pins’. I made an enormous voodoo doll to serve as our float, perched in a shopping cart one of my friends volunteered. We marched behind our burlap banner and gave out the voodoo dolls as throws,” she said. “It kind of took off from there.”
Robin Guidry, owner of Pink Alligator Gallery in Breaux Bridge spied some of Kate’s creations in the parade, and contacted her about maybe selling them in the gallery. “Robin thought they were just so fun and she knew they’d sell in her place. So I sent her some, they sold, and they became a regular product for her.”
She is quick to point out that her creations are for nothing more than fun and quirky décor, spreading positive mojo. “I go with the New Orleans hoodoo dolls, which are a form of gris gris and sympathetic magic,” she said.
Contrary to popular belief, the dolls are used to bless and have no power to curse. According to Jerry Gandolfo, sticking pins in the doll is not to hurt the associated person, but rather to pin a picture of a person or name to the doll, which usually represents a spirit. The gris gris is performed in one of four segments: love, power and domination, luck and finance, or uncrossing.
Ferry has developed dolls with several themes. There are the Courir de Mardi Gras dolls, who come complete with cone hat, wire mask and either a chicken or an onion on their shoulder. “These have really taken me into the realm of 3D creativity. I love having something that I can be creative with without having to paint.”
Other themes: the Dia de las Muertos dolls, very popular near Halloween and Cinco de Mayo. Ferry also made some voodoo angel tree toppers for Christmas. “They were fun because you can put halos on them and feather wings and glitter,” she said.
She’s got lots of ideas for upcoming themes, including zodiac dolls and more. Her works have traveled as far as Cortez, Colorado, featured in Bourque’s Cajun Country Store.
She presented the dolls as art projects for 6th and 7th graders at Episcopal School of Acadiana. “They had the most fun, picking out fabrics and colors and making each one as funky and individual as they were.”
This project has been a boon for Ferry in the pandemic. “I’ve really had to shift my focus during Covid,” she said. “My real job slowed quite a bit, and I accelerated other projects. Of course, the dolls. I’ve finished my business Facebook page, and started an online portfolio of my professional graphics and illustration work, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.”
Nothing but good juju, Kate. And the dolls DO work. They’ve brought just plain glee into the lives of new owners across Acadiana, maybe the world. Truly, a doll with a little cone hat and a chicken on his shoulder. How crazy cute is that?
